Collected and Arranged by The Wolfe Tones



The man was all shot through that came to day into the Barrack Square



And a soldier I, I am not proud to say that we killed him there



They brought him from the prison hospital and to see him in that chair



I swear his smile would, would far more quickly call a man to prayer



Maybe, maybe I don't understand this thing that makes these rebels die



Yet all men love freedom and the spring clear in the sky



I wouldn't do this deed again for all that I hold by



As I gazed down my rifle at his breast but then, then a soldier I.



They say he was different, kindly too apart from all the rest.



A lover of the poor-his wounds ill dressed.



He faced us like a man who knew a greater pain



Than blows or bullets ere the world began: died he in vain



Ready, Present, and him just smiling, Christ I felt my rifle shake



His wounds all open and around his chair a pool of blood



And I swear his lips said, "fire" before my rifle shot that cursed lead



And I, I was picked to kill a man like that, James Connolly







A great crowd had gathered outside of Kilmainham



Their heads all uncovered, they knelt to the ground.



For inside that grim prison



Lay a great Irish soldier



His life for his country about to lay down.



He went to his death like a true son of Ireland



The firing party he bravely did face



Then the order rang out: Present arms and fire



James Connolly fell into a ready-made grave



The black flag was hoisted, the cruel deed was over



Gone was the man who loved Ireland so well



There was many a sad heart in Dublin that morning



When they murdered James Connolly-. the Irish rebel